{"id":647968,"date":"2026-05-04T21:15:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T21:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/647968\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T21:15:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T21:15:12","slug":"alberta-separation-group-delivers-petition-says-it-has-enough-names-for-referendum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/647968\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta separation group delivers petition, says it has enough names for referendum"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\t\t\tBy Jack Farrell<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Canadian Press\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tPosted May 4, 2026 8:52 am<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tUpdated May 4, 2026 5:03 pm\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t1 min read\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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Alberta separatists say they have formally submitted almost 302,000 signatures to try to trigger a referendum on the province leaving Canada.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The group needed 178,000 signatures to force the province to consider such a vote.<\/p>\n

The question of separation could go on a provincewide ballot as early as October, as Premier Danielle Smith has said she would move forward if enough names are gathered and verified.<\/p>\n

Mitch Sylvestre, the head of Stay Free Alberta<\/a>, arrived at the Elections Alberta office in Edmonton on Monday, leading a convoy of seven trucks to deliver the paperwork.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSupporters carry boxes of signatures to submit for a separation referendum to Elections Alberta in Edmonton, on Monday, May 4, 2026.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJason Franson\/ The Canadian Press\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

More than 300 supporters gathered, waving the provincial flag and chanting, \u201cAlberta strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou guys brought us here. Without you guys, none of this would happen,\u201d Sylvestre told the cheering crowd.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou stood in the cold, you got abused and people yelled at you.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he would be sending the premier a letter and an affidavit swearing that more than 7,000 canvassers collected 301,450 signatures.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis day is historic in Alberta history,\u201d Sylvestre said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the first step to the next step \u2014 we\u2019ve gotten by Round 3 and now we\u2019re in the Stanley Cup final.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the petition could face another hurdle this week.<\/p>\n

An Edmonton judge is expected to rule on a court challenge launched by a group of Alberta First Nations that say separation would violate treaty rights.<\/p>\n

\u2014 More to come\u2026<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 The Canadian Press\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Jack Farrell The Canadian Press Posted May 4, 2026 8:52 am Updated May 4, 2026 5:03 pm…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":647969,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7611,78630,25159,25158,48,43,44,714,173408,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-647968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-alberta-legislature","tag-alberta-politics","tag-alberta-referendum","tag-alberta-separatism","tag-canada","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-stay-free-alberta","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=647968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/647969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=647968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=647968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=647968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}